


alive with the glory of love

by rories



Category: The Blacklist (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, F/M, Idiots in Love, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21950614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rories/pseuds/rories
Summary: When Elizabeth Keen, daughter of award-winning actor Sam Milhoan, starts receiving threats, her father hires the best bodyguard money can buy.  She finds the new bodyguard annoying and inconvenient.  She also finds herself falling completely in love with him.
Relationships: Elizabeth Keen/Raymond Reddington
Comments: 4
Kudos: 62





	alive with the glory of love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Melacka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melacka/gifts).



> happy holidays, @melacka! so so sorry it's late and i'm the worst. have some relatively self indulgent bodyguard au in a world that i will absolutely be exploring again because i barely scratched the surface of these two. i hope you have a wonderful holiday and a fabulous 2020!!

“You hired a bodyguard?!” Elizabeth yells, slamming her hands on her father’s desk. Her eyes are full of fire as they bore into Sam. 

“Hello, Elizabeth,” Sam says calmly, setting down his pen and standing to mirror his daughter. He leans forward slightly and presses a kiss to his daughter’s forehead, smirking at her attitude. “I see you’ve met Raymond.” 

Elizabeth stands straight, her features still cloudy as she watches her father come around the desk to pull her into a hug. As mad as she is, she can’t help but relax a little in his embrace, gripping the back of his sweater. 

“He broke into my apartment,” she says into his chest. 

“I gave him a key.” 

She pulls herself away and glares up at Sam. “You gave him… a key?” she grinds out. 

“He wanted to update your security system.” He moves away and towards the door, opening it to find the subject of their conversation standing where he had stopped when Liz had slammed the door closed. 

“Raymond,” Sam says congenially. 

“Sam,” Red says in return. 

“Daddy, I don’t need a bodyguard,” Liz says from the other side of the room. Sam sighs heavily and turns toward his daughter. He stares for a moment, quietly contemplating, and he can hear Red grind his teeth together. 

“Elizabeth,” he starts, heading back to his desk and swiftly picking up his tablet, tapping through to something and flipping it around to show her the screen. 

What she sees makes her wince, the web page a bright red and flashing a vandalized picture of her head. Sam has the sound turned off, but she can hear the phantom mocking laughter and gunshots that she knows plays in a loop on the page. “Between this and the letters you’ve received? You need a bodyguard.” 

Elizabeth drops her gaze and turns to face away from the image on the screen, swallowing hard and she hears Red moving behind her. She can see out of the corner of her eye as he jerks the tablet out of her father’s hand, glaring at him as Red places the tablet face down back on the desk. 

“If anything happened to you-” Sam starts again and then chokes off. 

Liz looks back up, eyes flicking back and forth between her father and Red, jaw clenching again. She knows that Sam just wants the best for her, to keep her safe, and she knows that Red is just doing his job, she can’t fault him that. 

She catches Red’s eye as he looks back up and she can’t pinpoint the look in his eyes but for some reason she feels a little bit safer in that moment. 

“I won’t let anything happen to her,” he says, his voice smooth and his eyes never leave hers. 

*****

She gets used to having him around for the most part. He’s there when she wakes up, making rounds around her home, and he’s there when she decides to go to bed, checking her locks and arming her security system. 

She learns a little more about him, like that he’d been in the Navy before getting in to private security, that he’s extremely charming and charismatic, and that he once worked at a winery and as such makes increasingly ridiculous but always delicious wine choices for her. 

They get into a routine and Elizabeth starts to feel a little more secure in her life. Which is why it’s such a shock one night when Liz is abruptly woken by the shrill, piercing noise of her alarm and the shattering of glass. 

She bolts upright in bed, looking around wildly for the source of the noise and gasping as the silhouette of a person rises from the floor. Liz catches the glint of metal in his hand but she can’t tell if it’s a gun or a knife. 

Liz tries to scream, but it’s like her fear is choking her and all she can do is gasp as the figure raises their arm. “You’re gonna join your husband,” a woman whispers in the dark, just as the bedroom door slams open and Red tackles the person to the floor. 

Behind him, still in the door, Red’s right hand man, Dembe, stands with a gun drawn, providing back up as Red wrestles the woman onto her stomach and tosses a knife to the side. 

Elizabeth clutches the blankets to her chest, breathing hard and shakily, eyes wide as she watches Red haul the woman up, shoving her towards Dembe. 

“Get her out of here,” he growls out. Dembe drags the woman out by her elbow and Red watches them head down the stairs before turning towards Liz. 

The room is still dark, but she can see him clearly as he heads toward her, perching on the side of the bed. “Lizzy,” he says almost breathlessly and one of his hands flutters near her shoulder. “Are you alright?” 

Liz tries to breathe out again but it feels like she’s breathing through a wet paper towel and the only anchor point is Red’s hand on her arm. 

“Just breathe, Lizzy,” he says softly, his hand moving from her arm to her neck, holding her jaw delicately. “Come on, breathe with me.” 

She follows along with him, breathing deep as he does and soon she’s able to take full and complete breaths. 

“Thank you,” she whispers with a hoarse voice. “I was so,” she starts before having to collect herself. “I was so scared,” she finishes before the tears start rolling down her cheeks. 

Red tugs on the back of her neck, pulling her to him and wrapping his other arm around her shoulders. “I’ve got you, come here.”

Liz clings to his shirt, letting the tears come freely now. He holds her tight and she thinks she can feel him press a kiss to her head as he whispers to her. 

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” 

*****

After that, Liz is never alone wherever she is. Red comes with her to work, to sets, to her agent’s office. And if it’s not Red, then it’s Dembe under strict orders to call Red if anything happens. 

Things stay that way for months, with Red spending more time at her home than his, and over that time they learn more about each other. 

Red tells her about his family, about the loss of his daughter and wife all those years ago. Liz holds his hand as he chokes back tears, squeezing to let him know that she is a safe space for him to let go. 

She tells him about her failed marriage and how even though they’d been separated at the time, Tom Keen’s death haunted her every day. He sits beside her on the couch, thigh to thigh, and lets her rage about her husband before assuring her she shouldn’t feel guilty about speaking ill of the dead. 

He spends so much time at her home that she clears out the spare bedroom and his things start migrating slowly over and before she knows it, they’re making breakfast together, quiet and contemplative in the mornings before she has to work. He starts showing up in paparazzi pictures of her and nosy entertainment (read: gossip) magazines start writing scathing articles about the two of them. 

Liz wonders if maybe they’re becoming too familiar for a bodyguard and his ward, but then he smiles at her from over a wine glass and she finds she doesn’t much care. 

She knows he’s not going to let anything happen to her.


End file.
